The fragmented shopping page of the Points Mall displayed a number of items, but for now, they weren't practical enough. Nothing was more important than filling their stomachs at the moment.
Among the food items, the most eye-catching was, of course, the delicious and cheap instant noodles!
Never mind the talk about instant noodles being junk food that children shouldn't eat.
When you were this poor, eating instant noodles was far better than eating trash.
[Friendly Reminder: The products provided by the Points Mall are completely harmless to the human body.]
Well, well, so it's issuing a disclaimer, huh?
But this was a good thing; it eliminated a lot of worries!
In that case, she could shop with confidence!
Old Hen Soup Noodles, two points a pack. She bought three packs!
With the remaining two points, she bought a bag of dried noodles, using up every last point.
Excellent. At least their meals for the next two or three days were sorted.
Only when she had the items in her hands did she realize that both the instant noodles and the dried noodles had packaging appropriate for this era. They were wrapped in paper, without even a single pattern on them.
This system's mall was truly, truly magical!
With the food sorted, she now had to solve the firewood problem.
She had noticed when she was boiling the eggs just now that the firewood was all just twigs and thin branches, without a single decent, thick piece.
One could imagine that this firewood was all gathered by the little ones in their spare time.
This wouldn't last long when burned!
She had to go get some proper firewood.
"Jianguo, come here."
Li Jianguo and his younger siblings were standing under the eaves, muttering something among themselves and occasionally poking their heads out to peek into the house.
He didn't expect to be called so suddenly.
He froze for a moment. It wasn't 'Li Jianguo,' 'little bastard,' 'burden,' or 'brat,' but 'Jianguo.'
It was like a bomb dropping into water, sending a jolt through his entire body.
It was too strange, utterly strange!
He felt like this woman was up to no good, but he still walked obediently into the kitchen.
He had no choice. When you're living under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head, not to mention he had his younger brother and sister to think about!
"What is it!"
Hearing his tone, Shen Ning glanced up at him before continuing to organize the things in her hands.
"Did you swallow a firecracker?"
Her tone was light and gentle, without a trace of blame, like a normal question.
Yet it made the little boy Li Jianguo's wheat-colored face change slightly.
As his eyes darted away, the tips of his ears grew hot.
He felt a little embarrassed.
It was as if he were a weaned baby rolling on the ground, wailing and throwing an unreasonable tantrum.
But soon, his gaze fell on the Back Basket she was organizing. Inside was a coil of thin hemp rope and a wood-chopping knife.
"You're going to chop firewood?"
This completely overturned the boy's perception of her. Not only had this lazy woman fetched water today and boiled eggs for them to eat, but now she was going to chop firewood?
Had she been possessed by a ghost?
His mouth fell slightly open, and he blinked several times before asking curiously, "Did my dad visit you in a dream?"
His dad must have visited her in a dream and given her a harsh lesson. Otherwise, how could this woman possibly do these things!
That had to be it!
"What nonsense are you spouting!"
This child's imagination was certainly rich. Besides, even if there was a dream visit, it wouldn't be to her; she wasn't the original owner!
"Didn't I tell you? Your father is gone, and now I have to support this family. Let's go, come chop firewood with me."
Although she had the original owner's memories in her body, the original owner's knowledge of the village was really limited. She was afraid that if she went into the woods to chop firewood, she'd go in and never come out.
It was better to have the little big brother go with her.
Li Jianguo didn't say much, just nodded.
But what he was thinking in his heart, who knew.
As Shen Ning shouldered the Back Basket, she saw the two little ones peering in at the kitchen doorway, their eyes wide open.
They looked like two little kittens.
Quite cute.
So she smiled, and as she walked past, she was in a good enough mood to pat little Xiao Hua'er's head.
It was just a pity that the child probably wasn't eating well. Her hair was a bit thin and had a yellowish, withered look—a clear sign of malnutrition.
Not only did she have to fill her own stomach, but she also had to feed these kids well.
She had a long and arduous road ahead of her!
"You two stay home and be good, watch the house, okay? Your brother and I are going to chop firewood. We'll be back soon. Don't run around, lock the door, and don't talk to strangers, alright?"
Although she didn't know if there were any human traffickers in the village, she still gave them a few extra instructions. The two children were really quite small.
Li Jianjun glanced quietly at his older brother and said softly, "Let Xiaohua and me go with you. We can gather kindling!"
Xiaohua immediately chimed in, "I want to go too, I want to go too!"
She was afraid her brother would leave her behind.
Shen Ning thought about it. This house was so destitute that even a mouse would have to leave something behind if it came in. What was there to guard?
"Alright then, let's go."
The three little ones led the way, and Shen Ning followed behind. The place where they usually gathered firewood wasn't very far, but it looked somewhat familiar.
It was under a row of trees at the edge of the plot of land allocated to the Li family.
Speaking of which, Shen Ning felt a little angry. The reason was that their family had no land, not a single plot.
Because Li Shan's household registration was with the army, he wasn't registered in Xiaohe Village. As his children, the three little ones' registrations also followed Li Shan's.
As for the original owner's household registration, although it hadn't been transferred yet, she had married Li Shan, who was the head of the household. Once the report was filed, she was supposed to be transferred over with him.
After all, in the mindset of people of this era, who wouldn't want their household registration to guarantee them a state-provided livelihood?
The original owner naturally thought the same.
So when the Li family split from them, they never even considered giving them the land that should have belonged to Li Shan.
Who knew such an accident would happen? Li Shan was suddenly gone, leaving the few of them in a very awkward position in the village.
Farmers naturally relied on land to eat. Without land, they had no means of livelihood.
So, many people in the village were waiting to see how this widow and her orphans would survive!
The children had just crouched down to search for fallen dead branches and leaves on the ground when a shrill female voice came charging towards them from a distance.
"You damn little beasts, stealing all the way to your grand-aunt's house! You shameless things! It's bad enough the little ones come every day, but it turns out someone's instigating them from behind. Have you gone mad with poverty? You worthless trash! Why doesn't heaven strike you black-hearted, rotten-gutted things down with a bolt of lightning!"
The cursing grew uglier and uglier, the sharp voice carrying so well it felt like the whole village could hear it.
As she cursed, she rushed up to them.
Shen Ning recognized the newcomer: the wife of the eldest Li brother, Li Bai—Liu Yunzhen.
She was a gaunt, skinny woman, dressed in a set of blue work clothes washed to a faded white, black trousers, and a pair of black cloth shoes on her feet.
Most people dressed like this, and Shen Ning was no exception.
A long, thick braid hung down her front.
But her looks were indeed somewhat disappointing. She had monolids and thick lips, a face that should have looked simple and honest, but the harsh expression on her face twisted it into something that screamed "not to be trifled with."
"Well, well, I was wondering who it was. Turns out it's our village's newly-minted widow!"